


Rulers of the Night

by Freya1970



Category: Subspecies (1991)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Het Relationship, Explicit Language, F/M, Near Death, Radu Never Dies, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Romance, Spells & Enchantments, Vampire Sex, Vampires, War, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:16:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5679355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freya1970/pseuds/Freya1970
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Radu returns after ten years of absence from Michelle's life.  Things are going to change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

The problem was semantics.  The study of linguistics.  Though after ten years in Romania had started to break down those barriers between her native language of American English she still had trouble distinguishing the real meaning of the medieval Romanian and even in the prior literature.  This is truly why Michelle despaired on this summer night.  There was no one in the village near Castle Vladislas that spoke it.  No way to translate what sounded like gibberish into modern Romanian.  That had been Lilian’s strong suit. Lilian the Linguist they used to call her at the university.  Lilian had purposely engrossed herself in everything medieval Romania that their university and others had to offer into order prepare for their research here.

 

Michelle closed the book she had been reading.  A book on Radu the evil creature that had turned her into what she was now. A vampire or in the native tongue a strigoi.  The basic definition of a vampire was a blood-sucking ghost. A wanderer stuck between life and death.  A condemned soul.  Well, whatever it meant, she felt real. More real than a ghost would. She felt pain, loss, heartache and all the emotions that came along with being given a gift of eternal life without asking for it.  In fact, Radu had kidnapped her and forced her into this bargain.  Like a horribly knitted sweater gifted for Christmas; though there was no trash can to secretly dump this gift in when the one who had given it to her finally left.

This was a gift that kept on giving.  Never ending, until at least someone would want her dead and drove a stake through her chest and lopped off her head.

“Studying again?” asked the female voice behind her. Michelle turned to find that somehow Ana Lazer had managed to sneak up behind her.  Too much thinking on things she couldn't change.

Michelle stood up and turned to her friend. Older.  Ana was older now.  Ten years older. Despite the passage of time, Michelle hadn't aged a day since she had been turned. As it has always been her habit, Michelle began to tidy up the mess of books and notes that she had scattered on the table when she had a visitor. Even if her only visitor these days was Ana.

“Yeah, well, same results as the last time I tried reading some of these books,” Michelle answered in her native tongue.  “I can’t make heads or tails of what’s written in these. I’m just not the natural linguist Lilian was. So what have you been up to, Ana? It’s been—”

 “Several months since my last visit. Yes. I've been—”

 “Dating?” Michelle said.  Admittedly, since she had finally accepted her fate to wander the rest of eternity she had decided to make the best of it.  Yes, she lost a lot of things. Friends, family, and even her opportunity to earn her doctorate, but that didn’t mean she had to continue to bemoan her fate.  Especially since she didn’t have to kill to survive.  Instead, she had the Bloodstone, which she had already partaken of tonight.

Ana blushed and nodded. “Yes.”

 Michelle felt happiness bubbling up for her friend. Vampires are maelovant creatures. They seek only to destroy. It had been in one of the books—somewhere. Or it might have been Radu who had taught her that. Michelle had never considered herself evil.  Just stubborn.  It’s why Radu had had so many problems with her.  But she had almost fallen.  Almost became something she didn’t want to be.  She had almost become like Radu.

 “What are you thinking, Michelle?” Ana asked.

Michelle smiled at her friend. “Just reflecting on what I am and who I’ve become.”

“Sounds serious,” Ana joked.

“I was close, Ana.  I was close to losing myself.”

Ana put her hands on her friends shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. “But you didn't.  Radu failed to turn you into a—”

 Michelle turned away then. Radu.  It was one thing to think his name and quite the other to hear it.

“You’re mine. Always.” The accompanying bite had been painful. Not erotic at all.  He had been ravenous. She tried to fight him off, but he kept her from pushing him away.

Every woman wanted to hear those words. At one point she had hoped to hear them from her fiancee back in the states.  Then when Stefan had come into her life she had wanted to hear them from him. But it had been Radu who had said them.

It was then she had felt torn between giving in and fighting what had been happening to her.  Happening since he had told her, he loved her. Her heart wanted to give in. “I hate you, Radu. I’ll hate you till the end of eternity.” And she hates him she did. She hated him for making her feel special. She hated him for making her a vampire. She hated him for bending her heart.

             On the stone pulprice, he was sucking her neck as if she held the answer to save him from his insanity.  That she held the answer to his plight. What part of being part of him forever meant that he had to drain her of every ounce of her lifeblood?

Suddenly, she found her voice. “What is it you want from me, Radu?”

Did he want her dead?

He had already accomplished that.

Did he want her placated?

She had stopped fighting him.

Did he want her soul?

Michelle opened her eyes after he stopped suckling her. “Your love.”

Love? She’d never love this monster. She was sure of it. “I could have destroyed you a thousand times over, fledgling. But I haven’t.”

Love. He wanted to love or did he just want to have sex with her? Sex…did vampires have sex? When she was a beginner researcher, she read about the lengths at which scientists would go to get along with the natives. It was reported that a woman had shacked up with a man who wasn’t her husband in the field to avoid being thrown out by the natives. Her skin had crawled at the notion of doing something like that. But now—Radu wanted her. It was his desire. And she could put it off on her research. Not that anyone cared to know if the dead were fucking or the condemned copulated. It would be extraneous information to write a book about if she ever got to it. If Radu allowed it. Then she remembered how long it had been for him.  It had been only a couple of weeks, the night before the trip for her.  As if he was reading her mind, Radu began taking off his black coat.  It wasn’t long afterward she had all her answers.

Yes, vampires had sex, and she had been a willing participant in her discovery of this fact. Radu had teased her into giving up her moral resolve, and she had let him. And she had found out how soon afterward she would have been replaced after giving in to him. 

Radu was going to replace her with Ana. “You’ll make a nice little plaything.”

She had been waking up when she had heard the whole exchange. She had also sensed that Serena was a threat to her place as his consort. For some reason, that had mattered.  After all, she had been through with him.  After everything, he had put her through.  After all the people he killed or had a hand in the killing during his so-called courtship, he was going sweep her aside as if she no longer mattered.  That’s when she found the ax  He demanded that she be the one to make Ana her fledgling.  Jealousy, rage, and anger were the prime emotions she felt when she lifted up the ax and swung it; embedding it in his neck. The bastard!  He was just going to sweep her aside! When the ax found its mark in his neck, she had quickly come to her senses of what she had just done, and couldn't finish the job. The man who told her he’d love her forever was dying.  The man who promised to share his wealth, position, everything was dying.  The man who had somehow wrapped his way around her heart with his sentiments and words—she watched in horror as Ana lifted up the ax and severed his head completely from his body.

Gone. Radu was gone.  Her tormentor, her Master, her lover and her keeper was dead.  Grabbing is his head she was determined to be done with him once and for all.  It had been a confusing time.

And now she was just as confused.

“Michelle, did you hear me?”

Michelle felt embarrassed that she had been in her little world while Ana had been telling her something.  “I’m sorry.”

“You looked lost there for a little bit.”

Michelle nodded in agreement. “Yes, I was. Lost that is. Now, what was it you were saying?”

“You sure your all right?”

Michelle nodded. “I'm okay. Now your news.”

“First. I was able to find these,” said Ana handing her a few books.

_Guide to Medieval Linguistic_

_Historical Treasures of Romania_

_Emperors, Kings and Princes of Romania_

The books put a smile on Michelle’s face. “And they’re thick too so it will take you awhile to get through them,” Ana pointed out.  Michelle flipped through the linguistics book. Suddenly, something—a feeling—a connection hit her like someone had thrown a brick at her. A connection she hadn't felt since—

A shadow passed over her. It knocked Ana backward. She crashed to the ground. At the same time, she felt the shadow become solid. Hands were around her throat, squeezing, causing spots to dance before her eyes. Forcing her eyes open she found that somehow she had been thrown into a proverbial Neverland. Because what she was seeing was just impossible. Radu’s angry and menacing face was hovering over her, and he was choking her.

“No….”  Michelle wailed.

“Hello, my pretty one.  Did you miss me?”

Michelle laughed at him then.

His eyes only grew more insane. “Why do you mock me?”

“Because you are a fool, Radu,” she told him. “You’re trying to choke a dead person. It doesn't make sense,” she managed to get out.

It was then he released his hold on her, but only long enough for him to turn and twist her arm behind her back. “Now that hurts.”

“You have grown to accept your new place in the world, but your mockery will not serve any purpose but to enrage me further.”

 

“And you twisting my arm behind my back won’t do you any favors in my book either, Radu.” Michelle retorted.

Radu’s hold on her slackened but not so much that she could fight her way out of the iron grip he had on her.  An ominous chuckle rumbled out of him then. “Your favors, my sweet, are quite sublime.”

 

Michelle could feel his lips on her on her throat. She tried to pull away but to no avail.  His grip tightened and then he sunk his teeth into her neck. It was painful when he had done that, but the pain was almost immediately replaced by pleasure when began to suckle her neck. It was almost as if his lips were making love to her then and there.

 

He wants to kill you. But, oh lord, what a way to go. It was almost as if she had grown another G-spot and Radu knew exactly where it was. Pleasure dampened her resolve to fight him. She was a damned fool because she did want to give into him.  She wanted to forget everything she had become over the past ten years. And she knew why he was here. He was going to torment her until he destroyed her.

Part of her wanted him to follow through with his plan and end her misery. But that part of her had weakened as the time had started piled up on this side of eternity. Now she wanted to live. Even this existed had its mysteries she wanted to resolve.

Like why the hell are you letting an insane evil vampire drink from you. And why the fuck are you enjoying it? You are just as powerful as him. The reality of the situation smashed into her like semi-truck. She quickly concentrated and became nothing more than a shadow herself. His reaction was as she predicted it would be.  He gave chase and turned into his shadowy form, chasing her down the flight of stairs that led to the crypts, a place where she never slept. Down the long hallway into what she had theorized used to be a dungeon.  Where the bones of poor souls were never buried; just left to lie where they had fallen.  Then she felt him catch up and grab her.  He was reaching for her neck again, and they twisted in flight. Over and over they barrel rolled through the air in shadow form. “You’ll never get away from me Michelle. I will hunt you to ends of the Earth,” he told her.

“Unless I go where your miserable soul can’t.” With that, her shadow form broke away from his and followed a passage that led outside the castle.  Higher, higher and higher she went until she solidified into her body. The wind whistled by her quickly as she fell towards the ground.  Can vampires die from falling? Before she could consider the question, she inexplicably stopped falling. 

She was flying through the air again.

Radu.

“And they call me insane. Despite our impervious natures; we are subjugated to some rules of physics,” he lectured her.

“I thought that’s what you wanted. Me dead!”

Radu flew them down to the ground where he left his shadowy form and approached her. “As you so plainly pointed out, my pretty one, you are dead.”

They were in the courtyard. The same one where he had taught her how to shadow walk all those years ago. Something she used on occasion to shorten the distance between her and destination, but never to hunt.  He turned and faced her. Fear lit into the very fabric of her soul. She had nearly forgotten how menacing he looked in the moonlight, especially with the bottom of his face covered his her blood.

“I sense your bravado has left you, pretty one,” he said as he quickly shortened the distance she had scrambled to increase after they landed.  “It is good that you still fear me.”

Michelle knew she was too stubborn for her sake, but it had served her well in the past.  Mainly dealing with men.  And Radu was nothing more than a man.  A crazy, homicidal, blood-drinking man, but a man no less.  “What do you want, Radu?”

That question again.  Last time he answered it; it had nearly cost her sanity…and sanity.

“I have come to reclaim all that is mine,” he hissed. Before she knew it had closed the distance between them and he was grabbing her by the throat.

“The Bloodstone, the castle;” she listed the two most important things she could think despite the pressure on her neck. Michelle was sure he was going to squeeze so hard now he was going to snap it.  So this was how it was going to end. With him ripping her neck off from her shoulders.

“And you,” he told her.

Simply disappearing into a shadowy mist would have only delayed everything. Denying Radu everything he wanted would also delay his vengeance.  And killing him would only be another delay.  Apparently his proclamation of being indestructible had been proven correct time and time again.

She was a scientist.  How many times would she need to kill him to realize that somehow Radu had gained true immortality, and there was nothing that could be done about it?  As she thought about this she preceded him up the spiral staircase to the throne room. To deny Radu anything was a foolish endeavor. She knew that now. Her heart sunk at that notion. She had been taken quite against her will as a madman’s consort.  At least, until he got tired of her and either released her or destroyed her.  She only read about these relationships in books and heard about them in either lectures or world women right’s pamphlets.  Then it had been somebody else’s problem. Now it seemed the problem had landed squarely in her lap. She was an oppressed woman. Forced to obey a man who ravaged her neck; who had made her what she is because –why had he done it?  Desire? Honestly, she had never considered herself drop dead gorgeous. Power? Ha! She had had no influence over anything. Except Stefan. Had Stefan loved her so much that Radu had turned her out of spite for his brother?

“Now I have it all, don’t I, fledgling?” Radu had mournfully said after he killed his mother in her defense.

It didn’t make sense. None of it did. Hell, her and Stefan had just met. She stopped in her tracks then and turned to Radu. “What the hell is all this about?” she asked.  “I’ve been a vampire for ten years, haunted and tormented by you and I have no idea why you singled me out.” Radu remained silent. “I’m a researcher…a scholar for god’s sake and an American. I doubt there’s a single ounce of royal blood in my veins.” 

Radu seemed to consider her words and lowered set his gaze on her. “Some mysteries should remain unilluminated even to the most curious minded.”

His cryptic answer did nothing to assail her curiosity. It only emboldened her. One day she would find out the answer to the mystery. Even if it meant setting him on fire a thousand times until he gave in and finally told her the answers to the many questions that she had.

Wrapping his hand around her upper arm and forced her to move ahead of him.  Of course, he would do that. He didn’t trust her.  Not after the many times, he had ‘died’ and the many times since becoming involved with her.  As they rounded the corner, she found that Ana was sitting in a chair cradling her head in her hand. Almost instantly, Michelle knew Ana was bleeding. Not because she saw the blood but because could smell it. It invigorated her. Her incisors began penetrating her gums. Her instincts told her that she needed to feed.

Before she could act or say anything, Radu flowed like the wind from her side to over to where Ana was nursing her head injury.  Managing to quell her hunger, she watched in horror as Radu grabbed Ana and picked her up by the throat. “I remember this pretty one as the one who tried to destroy me in my sanctuary. Such a sweet homecoming.”

Michelle managed to shadow walk between Radu and Ana preventing him from sinking his fangs into Ana’s neck. Instead, Radu found himself reeling from Michelle’s intrusion. An act Michelle knew would enrage him. An act of betrayal in his eyes. An act that he had done on her behalf, defending him from his evil mother.  But this time, she was the one doing the protecting.  “You can have everything, Radu.”

“Michelle, no,” Ana pleaded coughing since Radu had let her go when Michelle had interfered. 

For a moment, she questioned Ana’s sanity, but she knew Ana had always been protective of her. However, this time, Ana was way out of her league. Michelle shot Ana a warning glance and then turned her attention to Radu. “As I was saying you can have everything, Radu. IF you leave Ana alone.”

“Everything?” Radu sounded as if he was questioning his ears. He was treading towards her slowly. “The Bloodstone, the castle, my throne and—”

Michelle knew what she promised him.  Michelle nodded solemnly. “Everything.”

Ana pressed her way between them and turned to face Michelle. “Michelle, there should be another way,” she pleaded. “You just can’t hand everything over to him!”

“She has no choice,” Radu answered for Michelle. “Her love for mortals has weakened her to the point where she will give even herself to save one of them.” Radu’s tone was laced with contempt.

Not all mortals were worthy of such a sacrifice, Michelle noted to herself. However, Ana had been her companion who kept her company after she had become a fully-fledged vampire.  She was there when no one else cared to listen to her words when depression had set in.  It had been Ana who restored hope in her ability to complete her study and become a scholar.  A friend. “Just let her go, Radu.”

Radu appeared to be considering her request. “And what proof do I have to believe either one of you.”

“Michelle is still here. The villagers respect her privacy, and I’m the only one who comes here.”

This seemed to intrigue Radu. “The villagers know of her?”

“Yes,” Ana answered. “Yes, they only know her as the Dark Lady Vladislas,” Ana informed him of Michelle’s alias. “We thought it would be a better idea not to use her real name due to the repercussions of what her disappearance had done to her reputation.”

Radu walked over to where Michelle was as if Ana wasn’t there. His harsh gaze softened. 

“You took my name?”

Michelle wanted to tell him a lie.  Tell him that she had taken Stefan’s last name,  but Ana’s life was on the line, and she knew it would enrage him if she did that. “Yes, Radu,” she told him. “I took your name.”

A smile appeared on his pale face. He gently ran his hand over her cheek. “The human will be spared. But if she returns—”

“Please, Radu, I would like to see her again. She’s my only friend. The only friend I have left. Please let come back and visit me. She helps me with my research.”

Radu was silent in the moments following her request making her nervous.  Radu turned and took to his throne. “I will concede to this. But in the event of her betrayal of us I will utterly destroy her in front of you, pretty one.”

Ana turned to Radu then. “I have no intention of betraying you as long as Michelle is treated fairly and isn’t forced to anything she objects to.”

“Meaning as long as I don’t force her to hunt for subsistence you will be loyal to me?” he asked for clarity. Radu did not sound pleased with this particular part of the bargain.

“Which means sharing the Bloodstone with her. Do you agree?”

Michelle held back a laugh at Ana’s demands.  Here was the King of the Vampires; a vampire that struck fear in the heart of both the mortal and the vampire world was being handed demands by a mortal woman. The mortal woman who had killed him once. That was certainly a plus.

“I will promise to treat Michelle well and share the Bloodstone with her in return for your absolute loyalty to us,” Radu agreed.

It was then that Ana turned and faced Michelle. “I’ll be back next Tuesday to check on you. Goodbye, Michelle,” said Ana hugging Michelle before leaving the great room.

The moments stretched on in silence after Ana left.  Radu’s eyes traveled across the room. “You have made this a home once more,” he commented.

Michelle glanced over to see what he was talking about and compared it to the memory she had of the great room when she had been first brought to the castle.  Gone were the macabre decorations of skulls and the like. They had been replaced by fine antiques. Brass fireplace pokers, ceramic vases, and bowls. And tapestries.  What was a castle without tapestries? Ruins. She thought to herself. Just like the way she found it.

Shadow-walking from the throne to where he stood behind her. “The Bloodstone. Where is it?”

Michelle turned and faced him then. “Have you fed tonight?” It was a silly question. Of course, he did. He had fed on her.

“What does it matter?” he said to her turning her around roughly. “The Bloodstone is rightfully mine. I have suffered these past ten years without it. Many mortals died because of my need for it.”

“It matters greatly, Radu, and I know why you want it,” she lectured him. “When you feed and then drink from the Bloodstone…it makes you feel more powerful than either does alone,” she lectured. “But there’s something you have to realize. You are the Vampire King now, Radu. You can’t afford to succumb to the delusion that you need to do both to sate your thirst.”

Radu grew angry then. “Who are you to lecture me on such matters?” he asked. “I’m over a thousand years old.”

“Because, Radu, I’m a scientist.” With that, she turned and left him alone in the great room.

~*~

Michelle’s newfound voice was replaced with the silence of the night. Outside of the crackling flames of the fire, all was quiet.  Even the music from the nearby village was bordering on silence.  It was times like these that reflection could drive one mad. Radu did not want to reflect on what made him concede to Michelle’s and the mortal’s wishes.  With the dissolution of his brood in Bucharest—Ash, Serena and the others he had wandered the world in search of—something until a month ago when he had decided that his wanderlust had slackened and home was where he wanted to be. 

Castle Vladislas was indeed his home, despite the fact that he had been banished from it for the majority of his existence. Yet, Michelle had managed to repair at least from what he had seen some of what his father had let fall into ruin. His father’s love for Helena was extraordinary, and his father’s existence for as long as it had been had ended in a depression that his father seemed unable to defeat. His father had let himself go. Let himself age. Let everything around him fall into ruin. He had even shunned what he was. He had taught Stefan to do the same.  Making a fool out his younger brother.  Filling his head with a nobleness that wasn’t their lot in the scheme of eternity.

Porcelain ornaments lined the mantle shelf of the great hearth where he had burned the remains of his mother. Porcelain was something his mother would have found cheap and distasteful to be set on display in the great room where she had, at least for a while, ruled as his father’s consort. Yet, by his hand, his mother was beyond such trivialities. His mother had been right about one thing.

Michelle had indeed destroyed what he had been.


	2. Chapter 2

 

More semantics. The book that Ana had purchased for her had done little to help her understanding of Medieval Romanian.  It had reinforced her notion that no one truly understood the language, except for Lillian. Paging through the so-called guide did nothing to help her decipher the language or why she had been thinking about her research partner who fell into what looked like a catatonic state after being turned into a vampire. For all Lily’s ability to decipher the mysteries of language, she had been a friend who embraced life. There was only one explanation for Lily’s downfall after her change into a vampire: Radu.  
  
Radu. Over the course of the last few nights, she had seen very little of him.  And when she did, he had tried his best to press her into revealing where she had kept the Bloodstone hidden.  Something she had managed to keep secret despite the fact they were sharing in its potent elixir on a nightly basis. Other than that, he blissfully kept to himself and left her to her studies.  At least until now.  
  
“What preoccupies your mind to the point of distraction?” Radu asked her.  
  
Should she tell him? Would he laugh or berate her?  Probably. “I’m trying to learn to do my friend Lillian’s job and learn Medieval Romanian.”  
  
“For what purpose?” he asked.  
  
Michelle turned back to the book she had been reading. “I’ve got an eternity to fill, so I thought I’d continue my research,” Michelle told Radu hoping he would become disinterested and leave her to work.  
  
“Such things are not for our kind,” Radu commented.  
  
Michelle sighed and glanced up at him.  “Outside of drinking blood and terrorizing mortals what is it that we are supposed to do, Radu?”  _Because I don’t want to do either_.  
  
“We are observers. Biding our time until we are required to interfere with events that threaten those who serve us,” Radu explained.   
  
“And what do you think a researcher is?” Michelle asked Radu knowing that she was probably going to regret hearing his answer.                   
  
Radu pulled out a chair and sat at the opposite side of the table. “Explorers of the mysteries. Seeking to explain the unexplainable.”  
  
“That’s pretty much it,” Michelle responded, her attention still on her work.  
  
“What type of researcher were you training to become?”  
  
“Why do you care?”  
  
“My explanation of what we do should suffice to answer your question, Pretty One.”  
  
“An anthropologist. I was collaborating with Lillian, who was a linguist who specialized in medieval languages, and Mara was trying to get her Ph.D. in history.  Anthropology is—”  
  
“The study of cultures and their origins. I am not without intellect, Pretty One,” said  
“Sorry, but some people didn’t understand what the three of us were trying to accomplish,” Michelle explained. “So now I’m attempting to become a linguist as well. It seems I don’t have the knack for languages Lillian did.”  
  
It was strange to be conversing with Radu in this manner.  Normally, he would be hissing and demanding her to do this and that. Demanding her loyalty. But they had already had that established. Everything was his. Even her.  Her heart sunk at the thought.   
  
“What were you trying to accomplish by coming to Romania.”  
  
“I’ve always been fascinated by the lore in Romania. But to be honest, I was attracted to the medieval times because that is when all the vampire lore began to emerge. What happened here for this culture to develop the vampire—” Michelle stopped herself from calling vampires myths, because here in this room were two of them, and she was one of them.  She wanted to apologize but didn’t know what for.    
  
Radu stood.  “Then,” he said with a menacing smile growing across his face. “As a scholar, you have been handed the perfect opportunity to find the answers your questions.”  
  
 Nothing more was said as he dissolved into shadow and disappeared.

~*~

_“There is more than one reason to fear the full moon.”_

  
It was those words from her mother that startled Drava. She looked up from the suitcase that would lead her from the bonds of poverty. Her mother, aged from ignorance and superstition of the Transylvanian mountains, stood in the doorway of her soon-to-be former residence. Her mother, with hardly any education outside of her duties of wife and mother, was ignorant of the modern world. The world where technology gave comfort to the masses that her family could not afford or experience. Her mother, of course, was wary of her leaving while a full moon stood over the Earth like an omen; signaling for all things evil to come out and ravage the Earth. It was like blaming a woman’s cycle for all her misdeeds.  
         
Her mother’s ancient superstitions kept her where she was. While she and her mother took care her father so he could work, he spent his most of their family’s money at the local tavern. Drava needed a change. A change that meant a better place to live and more money to spend; that’s what the seventeen-year-old Drava wanted. No, it went further. She wanted everything the world had to offer her. Freedom, money, and all the men she could ever imagine. Men who would stumble over themselves to make her happy.

  
The full moon had nothing to do with those things. Drava was going to set the world on fire. Zipping up her case she left her mother, brothers and father behind in her wake. Perhaps, if she was feeling guilty or charitable one day she’d send them something. Buy them a new house. Pay their debts. Drava looked up at the full moon and smiled. From now on, the full moon would be nothing but a good omen for her. No longer would the stories of vampires or werewolves pollute her mind.   


Instead, it would be a sign of her freedom.  
  
All she had to do was make it through the forest to the highway to hitch a ride to the city where her lovely blond youthful looks would pave her way to her success.  
  
Drava hesitated a moment before entering the forest that separated her and freedom.  She looked back at her parent’s humble home. It had been given to them to raise their family by her mother’s father erected and cared for by her parent’s efforts. Her mother stood in the doorway. It was too dark to see what her mother was doing, but she was imagining her mother was praying for her safe journey to whatever destination lay before her. 

  
“Pray all you want, Mother,” Drava said in a hushed tone. “But it will not bring me back to this horrible place.” Within a space of a heartbeat, Drava entered the forest that had separated her from the rest of the world.

~*~

Time stood still in the woods. Her shining guardian the moon was blocked out by the overhanging tree limbs. The narrow path that she knew led to the highway twisted and turned through the forest. A stray branch scratched her skin. The sound of a twig breaking told her that she wasn’t alone in the woods now.  Her heart drummed faster as she could hear her mother warn her:

 _“There is more than one reason to fear the full moon.”_  
  
Her mother’s words hadn’t eased her mind but fed the feeling of being cut off from the rest of the world. It was not the moon’s fault that the path she knew so well had suddenly ended. Nor was it the moon’s fault that she craved the sanctuary of her parent’s home.

  
Laughter came out of nowhere. A man was mocking her plight from a distance. It was almost as if he was counting on her to run back home. Waiting for her to fail at her one and only chance at freedom and conquering the known world. And then there was the stench.

  
The forest smelled as if wolves were occupying them. Wolves she had come to know that would come and go in packs seeking whatever livestock or scraps they could find. 

Wolves.  
  
Yes, the wolves had returned to the forest.

  
They were not to be feared; her father had taught her. As long as one was armed, there was no sense in fearing them.   
  
There were whispers on the wind. She soon was imagining that someone was plotting something against her. She picked up the pace of her walk until it was she was almost running. She could hear the cars driving along the highway.  She wasn’t far.  The sound of a soft footfall near her made her bolt.

  
Drava’s bulky bag slowed her pace. But she knew better than stop. Her instincts told her she had to run for a place where people could see her. She paid no to the fact that she was now picking her way through the overgrown underbrush. The path had long since disappeared into the darkness somewhere behind her.

  
_“Run, little dear, run,”_ the maniacal voice teased.  
  
Drava screamed and turned hoping that she could salvage some of her energy to run back to her home where it was safe. Her eyes met those of a wolf who immediately pounced on her.  She prayed to God for her soul before her throat was ripped apart in a single bite from the giant wolf. Her crimson blood and her teenaged dreams of glory and fame spilled across the forest floor.

~*~

A howl emerged from the woods that surrounded the castle. Michelle looked up from her book then. “I don’t think I’ve heard a wolf howl like that before.”  
  
“They have returned.” The sound of Radu’s raspy voice from behind startled her; making her almost jump out of her chair.  
      
“Who has?” asked Michelle as another chilling howl echoed from the forest.  
     
“The wolves,” Radu said to her as he walked over to where the open air window was. “And so close to the festival of the dead.”  
        
“The Transylvania Alps has the largest population of wolves in Europe.” It was a fact that her father had reminded her over and over again. He had told her to stay away from the forests. Too bad he didn’t warn her about vengeful vampires and family feuds that lasted for centuries.  
        
“These wolves do not seek out lost lambs or a shepherd's sheep. They seek larger quarry to fill their ranks.” Radu sounded…concerned.  
             

 What he said made no sense. Another mystery that he refused to reveal to her.  Michelle searched for her answers then. She stretched out her senses. Her sight expanded and telescoped in the northwest portion of the forest. Michelle could see for miles this way. Night became as day. Her vision drifted between trees, swooped through a hollow log until an enormous black wolf came into focus. The wolf turned its head. Almost as if it saw her and growled and snapped at her.  
                
Michelle’s vision returned to normal so quickly her head spun. “Whoa!” Before she could find her center, Radu was at her side. “Fool! What have you done?!” Radu hissed.  
                
“I just wanted to see,” Michelle answered not quite over her dizzy spell.  
                 
Radu’s face contorted in anger; his eyes were narrowing into a menacing glare. “They know you’re here now. I must now make amends for your intrusion.” Radu then shoved her away from him.  
  
Radu then stepped away from her. “You will sleep with me this day.” With that Radu was gone, turning into a shadow and leaving her behind again.   _Sleep with him_? Why did she have to sleep with him because she had only spied on a wolf pack?  She had slept alone for ten years—but she knew better than to go against him on this. There was more than anger in his voice. Perhaps she had imagined it, but he had sounded…concern.  
               
Dressed in clothing of a peasant a woman stood on the edge of a forest. A blanket of mist draped the side of the woods like a curtain. Her eyesight keen as ever, she was able to see the approaching shadow until the darkness congealed into the body of a man. A man of ancient power and bloodline.  There was a scent of blood about him.  A man or vampire that she hadn’t seen in centuries.  
                
“You have returned from exile. The King allowed this?” she asked in her native Romania tongue.  
                
“I am the King now. My father is dead along with both my brother and mother,” Radu hissed.  
                
“There were reports of your demise as well, Radu,” she retorted.  
                
“As you can see, Helena, the news was false. What business do you have being so close to the castle?”  
                
“The Treaty of Jjaner must be honored, Radu. You said Stefan has met his end?” There was a considerable distance between them as there had been for centuries.  Still the news of the death of King and Stefan was tearing at her heart. She would save tears for another time. There was a time when—  
                
_The sounds of hooves of horses shattered the quiet village life. Her mother was long dead, but her brother and father cared for her.  But despite her blindness, she could tell a group of warriors had arrived.  The sound of metal on metal, the sound of the tired horses told her that they carried men who were heavy.  But what kind of warriors—_  
_  
The door to her hovel banged open. “Helena, my love.”_  


_This person was a very different Radu Vladislas.  This man had passion and a love of life despite his occupation as his father’s enforcer. She was embraced in a long hug, and his lips found hers, forcing a giggle from her as he picked her up and whirled her around._

  
_“Radu,” she said, letting a smile explode across her face. “Have you news?” Was the King going to let them marry? Was it time to stop playing dignitary for his father and was he going to be allowed to present her to his father’s court as his intended?_  
  
_“I am to go on a mission to the west. I’m to negotiate a treaty with a clan of Huns that believe that they can encroach on our holdings.”_  
  
_The news of Radu’s departure had saddened Helena. “How long this time?”_  


_“Probably a year at the earliest, but the King wants you to stay at court for your and your father’s protection in case the Huns decide to try to use my love for you against me,” Radu had told her. “Upon my return, we’ll be married. I promise.”_  
  
But now the ghost of that man stood before her, twisted and destroyed by his hate and rage of the world.  
  
“There is no possible way the treaty can be honored, Helena, as Stefan is dead,” Radu said as he slowly began to walk towards her.  


“Then another must take his place.”  
  
“Another impossibility,” Radu said to her. “We don’t have time to discuss this now. The dawn is coming.”  
  
Radu stopped when the distance between them had been reduced to only a few inches between them. “Castle Vladislas is off limits to you and your kind.”  
  
Radu turned to leave. “It will be difficult for you to enforce that Vladislas,” Helena warned. “Especially during daylight hours.”  
       
“This is your only warning, Helena. I will meet with you during the Festival of the Dead for the renegotiation of terms.”

  
Helena stepped forward then looked into his menacing eyes. “Agreed but stay out of our business as well, Radu.”  


  With that, Radu disappeared into the shadows of the night.  
  
For the third time tonight, Michelle tried to concentrate on the work of learning ancient Romanian.  _Where did he go? Why did he say I had to sleep with him tonight? Why can’t I just learn ancient Romanian instead of thinking about Radu._  
                   
Michelle examined the diagram in front of her that demonstrated the links between the words of Modern Romanian to 19th century Romanian.  _Why can’t they just link modern to ancient? Oh right, that would make things easier. Does he want to fuck me again? Doesn't matter I hate him and he’ll never touch me again. Shit…back to learning—what does a participle do again?_   _Would he be rough with her again or would he be gentle this time? It doesn't matter! Study! The sun will be up soon! Participle—what does a participle do? Dangles just like the soft scraping feeling that is—_  Michelle slapped whatever was crawling on her neck away only to find that whatever it was—scratched her. Realization swept over her. She looked up and discovered Radu standing next to her.  To see him twice in one night was unusual but a third time— _a charm._

  
“Your work carries you toward the edge of dawn. It is time for us to rest.” Radu grazed the edge of his fingernails along the length of her neck where they had been a moment ago.  It was a sensual feeling. One that could drive her into submission.  One that communicated that he for some odd reason that he cherished her. One that chilled her to the bone.  Their eyes met as he stopped touching her, it was then she noticed that his nails were lightly stained with fresh blood. She could smell it. Radu licked away the blood from fingertips.

 Apparently, she was finger licking good.  
  
Colonel Sanders would be appalled.  But to her with her senses twisted to match his own, it was like he had dipped his finger in a pot of delectable melted dark chocolate. Michelle’s mouth watered. Suddenly a taste from the Bloodstone wasn't enough to sate her thirst. She turned away from the sight of him.  _Don’t give in. Michelle, you're better than this_ , she told herself.  
  
“Time for sleep, Michelle,” Radu said taking her hand and helping her to a stand. On the desk in front of her was her work. Several books were still open to where she had left off moments ago.  Radu pulled her close and then they were walking down the spiraling staircase, heading to the lower floors of the castle. The crypt.  Radu led the way to the tomb. Michelle planted her feet firmly then.  “I don’t sleep in the crypt. I have a room in the tower that is blocked off—”  
“You sleep with me, Michelle, where I sleep. It’ll be safer for you there,” Radu told her pulling on her arm forcing her to continue her trek down towards the bowels of the castle. Spiraling downwards towards the end of the staircase she could feel the heat of the dawn begin to sear her flesh.  She leaned in on him as if somehow he could take the pain of the light away. As if  
  
Radu was darkness incarnate. Her muscles were complaining and beginning to cramp with each step they took. Down, down and down they went.  She wondered if they were going to make it. Her vision started to blur from the rays of light that were now peeking through the blessed darkness.  
  
Finally, they reached their goal. The entrance to his crypt. Radu pulled the door open. The trappings were both barren and macabre.  Skulls littered the far side of the crypt. Bits of clothing were scattered hodgepodge around the crypt.  But right now that didn't matter.  Her body was threatening to stiffen in its deathly sleep. However, Radu led her to one side of the ancient marble slab where she imagined some distant relative of his had been laid to rest.  Pulling out of Radu’s grip, Michelle made her way to the side of the slab she wanted to sleep on. Which happened to be _t_ _he cleanest part_  of the slab and was the one closest to the wall. Michelle laid herself on her back as was her habit. Her muscles clenched then, to the point she was unable to move.  Michelle closed her eyes, exhaling her last breath of the day.

 


End file.
